His Fathers' Son
by jamelia116
Summary: In order for Tuvok and Neelix to return to their own unique bodies, Tuvix's life will have to be sacrificed. Is there a way his friends on Voyager can allow him to live on? An alternate universe rendering of the second season episode, "Tuvix."


His Fathers' Son

An AU Star Trek: Voyager story

By jamelia

The transporter beam swirled around the being who stood rigidly on the platform. As always, the molecules of his body were transferred into energy from solid matter and transferred into the pattern buffer memory. The officer handling the controls paused briefly, counting off the seconds with her eyes closed. Ten seconds, then fifteen. At twenty seconds, _Voyager's_ field medic Tom Paris, who was standing directly in front of the platform, announced, "Now, Captain."

Kathryn Janeway reopened her eyes and activated the transporter. This time, the beam sparkled in a subtly different pattern than it usually did. Two people, neither of whom was the one who had just left, coalesced onto the platform.

"Welcome back, Lieutenant Tuvok and Neelix. How are you feeling?" Lieutenant Paris asked, punching at the medical tricorder in his hand, which immediately began to blink with a variety of bioreadings.

"I am well," the Vulcan officer answered.

"So am I, Tom." The Talaxian "jack of all trades" of _Voyager_ stared at his empty hands and looked all around the transporter platform. "Where's the plant I was bringing back to the ship?" he asked. "Did something go wrong with the transporter?"

"I am also perplexed," Tuvok said. "You seldom perform the role of transporter technician, Captain."

Tom stepped onto the platform. Placing one hand on Neelix's shoulder, and waving Tuvok down off the pad, he took a deep breath before speaking. "You could say that something did go wrong with a transport, but it wasn't this one that was the problem. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Neelix and I signaled for transport back to _Voyager_ after an away mission. We were looking for plant from the orchid family which promised to supply rich nutritional supplements for our crew. Ensign Kim apologized for a delay in our beam out, but eventually, it commenced as usual."

"The orchids. That's what's missing. Is there an explanation for why they aren't here with us, too, Captain?" Neelix added.

Tom gazed up at his captain. She stepped down from the console and waved Tuvok and Neelix down from the platform. "Yes, there is. It's quite . . . involved. The first thing I must tell you is that you called to initiate that transport over two weeks ago."

"We were in the transporter buffer all that time?" Neelix looked nervously from Tom to the captain.

"Not exactly. And there's something else you need to know. In your absence, we acquired a new crew member. I hope you'll both welcome him, since you could not give us your opinions about whether we should accept him on board or not."

Tuvok raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Captain, I do not consider myself to have the right to veto a decision of yours concerning the addition of any new crew members to our roster. That is clearly up to you and Commander Chakotay."

"I agree with Lieutenant Tuvok. It's certainly not for me to say 'yay' or 'nay.' I'm so grateful you allowed Kes and I to remain on _Voyager_ when we asked to travel with you. I'm in no position to say someone else shouldn't be as lucky as we were. Although . . . this person isn't a Kazon, is he?"

The captain smiled enigmatically. "No, I can assure you he isn't a Kazon. Or a Vidiian. Or any . . . purebred member of any of the races we've encountered here in the Delta Quadrant so far."

During this conversation, Tom completed his examinations of Tuvok and Neelix. After catching the captain's eye and silently mouthing "Okay" to her, he continued in a more normal tone of voice, "Actually, he's a rather unique kind of guy, wouldn't you say, Captain?"

She sighed. "Oh, definitely. Well, I think it's time we went to Sickbay. The Doctor wanted us to bring you to him as soon as we got both of you safely back on board. Follow me, gentlemen."

As they walked into the corridor, Neelix leaned over to Tom and said, with a little quiver in his voice, "'Safely?' Were we in some sort of danger, Tom?"

"Well, yes and no. You were on board, but you weren't exactly yourself. Either of you."

"That's quite mysterious."

"Once we get to Sickbay, we'll go into what happened in detail." Tom paused slightly before continuing "Meeting our new crew member may make it much easier to explain."

"I hope so," the captain agreed.

As they exited the turbolift and entered Sickbay, Tom slipped away from the others and turned into the medical office to download the tricorder readings he'd just taken into the medical records. The EMH, Kes, and Commander Chakotay were at the other end of Sickbay, standing next to a fourth individual. This was clearly the "unique kind of guy" Tom had mentioned. He was dressed in a unique variation of the normal Starfleet uniform. While his uniform bib was gold, it was made of a brocaded fabric with a very subtle weave, suggestive of but much more subdued than that which Neelix favored for his outfits. When this person turned to face those who had just entered Sickbay, Tuvok missed a step, and Neelix gasped audibly.

The EMH beamed at them. "Welcome back, Lieutenant, Mr. Neelix. We have someone here we'd like you to meet."

Captain Janeway cleared her throat, and the Doctor took a step back as the Captain waved her hand. "Tuvok, Neelix, I'd like to introduce Tuvix. Your son."

=/\=

 **Four days earlier:**

The scene on the bridge had been ugly. Tuvix had begged the captain to spare his life. When she was not willing to change her decision, he went from one member of the crew to the other, trying to get them to stand up to her and save him. His pleading resulted in a stay of execution for one day, to give him time to say good-byes to those who had become his friends during his brief time on _Voyager_.

That morning, the Doctor announced he'd discovered the means to recover Tuvok and Neelix as individuals again, at the cost of Tuvix's life. But then the Doctor told the captain that, since the Hippocratic Oath stated, "First, do no harm," _HE_ wouldn't be the one to "pull the trigger" against Tuvix's wishes. Tom thought the EMH had some nerve dumping the ethical dilemma into the captain's lap. He suspected she granted Tuvix one more day of life because she didn't really want to do it, either. Tom had a lot of trouble, not to mention more than a little anger, with the EMH's stance. If he couldn't "kill" Tuvix to bring back two other individuals who had, in a sense, been killed by Tuvix's creation, Tom thought the Doc should have just kept his mouth shut, buried that research finding, and proclaimed he couldn't undo the merge. There would be harm that way, too, but that harm had already been done, and accidentally.

And now, just hours before the "procedure," as the Doctor had so cavalierly called it, was to be performed, Tuvix had approached Tom, B'Elanna Torres and Harry Kim in the mess hall. Before he'd said a word, Tom knew what he was going to ask. He wanted to run out the door, to escape what could be another awful scene, but he knew he couldn't do it. When Tuvix pleaded, "Please, Tom. Help me live," he felt like he was killing the poor guy himself; and Tom already had plenty of dead people on his conscience.

"I'd love to help you, Tuvix. I miss Tuvok and Neelix very much, but if we could save you and still get them back, I'd go to the captain this minute to tell her how. I'd do anything if all three of you could survive. But we _don't_ know how."

"If you put your minds to it, I know you would find a way, Tom. The Doctor was able to bring you and the captain back from being changed into lizards! This crew can do anything if it really tries!"

Tom looked down at his clenched hands. The lizard thing. Tuvix just had to bring that up. Stealing the captain. Traveling at Warp 10 so she would turn into a lizard, too. Having babies with her, for crying out loud! And then Tuvok and Chakotay left the babies behind on that planet, to live, or more likely die, all on their own, without a parent to care for them. The wound was still so raw, he felt terrible every time someone mentioned it. But it was true. Somehow, the Doctor had brought them back. How was this possible? Was there anything that they hadn't tried yet?

He looked desperately at Harry and B'Elanna, hoping they would say something positive, or even just back him up by saying there wasn't anything more they could do; but Harry was looking up at the ceiling; and B'Elanna was staring blankly out of the mess hall window. Tom didn't think they'd be any help at all.

He was about to say, "Sorry, we can't help," when B'Elanna whispered, "Sulan split me in half."

Momentarily Tom was stunned she would bring up that incident; neither of them ever spoke of if they could avoid the subject. Their capture by the Vidiians and the pointless death of their crew mate Peter Durst was as upsetting a subject for B'Elanna as the "Lizard Thing" was for him. Tom finally managed to say, "Into a Klingon and a human, B'Elanna. He didn't just duplicate you as you."

"I'd think separating me into two people would be harder to do than simply duplicating another me. It's the opposite of the symbiogenesis that created you, Tuvix. Tuvok and Neelix were merged by that orchid to become you. Dr. Sulan unmerged me. I guess I'm a lot like you, thanks to my parents making me."

"I don't recall, why aren't there two of you on board this ship, Lieutenant Torres?"

"Well, this mad scientist accidentally killed the Klingon B'Elanna. The Doctor had to reintegrate her DNA into the human - which is me. I ended up being the same B'Elanna as I was before it happened. I think." She gazed into Tom's eyes and added, "Except I remember the entire incident, and everything I did and felt when it happened. Speaking with her helped me understand parts of myself I'd never wanted to face before. And even after she died, she saved my life with her DNA. "

Tom remembered, too. He could recall every single thing he said and did in that Vidiian nightmare of a mine; especially the terrible emptiness he felt whenever he thought of the helpful Talaxian Chakotay didn't rescue when he came for the two B'Elannas and Tom.

"You know," Harry said, "There was this rumor that went around the Academy in my third year. It concerned the twin of Commander Riker of the _Enterprise,_ who was rescued after living alone on a planet for eight years. Nervala - I forget which planet, but that's the system's name. A few weeks later, we found out it wasn't just a rumor. It actually happened."

"That's very interesting, Harry. What does that have to do with Tuvix's problem?"

"Commander Riker was an only child. This guy was a duplicate of Commander Riker. He was on Nervala IV - that's the planet, I remember now - as part of a mission to rescue some scientists from a research station. The crew of Riker's ship had trouble getting a lock on his signal, so they initialized a second containment beam, apparently planning to reintegrate the two beams once they got him inside the pattern buffer. They didn't really need the second beam, as it turns out, so the transporter chief shut off the transporter once Riker was safely on board. They thought they had rescued everyone and left.

"This planet has a very erratic orbit, and it's only possible to transport down or up for very brief periods during its year. The next window wasn't available for eight years. When the _Enterprise_ went back to salvage the research records left behind when the station was abandoned, they found this twin brother. They finally figured out an energy surge in the distortion layer surrounding the planet caused the initial transporter problem. The phase differential of the layer was apparently the same resonance as the second containment field's pattern. When the transport was terminated, that second one was reflected back onto the transporter pad on the station. A complete copy of Riker materialized there, but no one knew - not even the twin - what had happened until the _Enterprise_ found him."

"What happened to this twin brother?" B'Elanna asked.

"Well, he was still a lieutenant, of course. He ended up transferring to another ship to try to build a career of his own, since Commander Riker has quite a dossier by now. The twin goes by the name of Thomas, the commander's middle name. So they're Commander William T. Riker and Lieutenant W. Thomas Riker."

"Do you think it's possible to duplicate me, then?"

"If it's been done once, Tuvix, it can be done again," B'Elanna said. "The question is still how to go about it. We don't have access to that genotron of Dr. Sulan's, but if we can discover a planet with a distortion layer like the one on this Nervala, we might be able to put a shuttle on its surface and try to replicate what happened to Riker _._ We'd have to figure out a way to bounce back the second containment beam signal so one of you would end up in the shuttle's transporter, and another here on _Voyager_. We need more precise information about the phase differential, and any other contributing factors the crew of _Enterprise_ identified. So we can try, _IF_ the records in our computer are complete enough to make the attempt. Assuming we can even find a planet with that type of distortion layer within range of _Voyager_. That's a lot of 'ifs,' though."

"Let's stay positive. We've got until tomorrow to research this. Looks like we're going to be burning the midnight oil again tonight, guys." Turning to Tuvix, Tom quietly added, "Now, you do realize there's no guarantee we'll be successful. Like B'Elanna said, there are a _lot_ of ifs."

"I understand, but at least you've given me hope."

"You know, four humming computer terminals are better than three . . ." B'Elanna said, smiling.

"I need to work with you! It will keep my mind too busy to think about what will happen to me tomorrow if we can't find a way to make me a twin." For the first time all day, Tuvix grinned.

When the group walked out of the mess hall to head to Engineering, where everyone could research the problem on terminals within close proximity, allowing them to ask each other questions or share information, B'Elanna and Tuvix walked ahead, speculating on possible "contributing factors." Tom hung back to accompany Harry and said, "You didn't say anything about that incident several weeks ago. The two _Voyagers_. Remember?"

Harry smiled slightly. "Do you think I could ever forget I'm Exhibit A when it comes to duplicates, because I came from the other ship?"

"Har, maybe you and little Naomi aren't the duplicates. Maybe all the rest of us are."

Harry sighed. "If that's the case, it's too bad Tuvix wasn't with us when that all happened. Maybe their Tuvix would have come over, too, so we'd already have two of them on board."

"Yeah, too bad," Tom replied. He was glad Harry lengthened his stride just then and called out to B'Elanna and Tuvix to hold the turbolift so Tom and Harry could catch up. Tom didn't want to continue the conversation right then, because he suddenly had another insight, a very unpleasant one.

Even if they did manage to duplicate Tuvix, it didn't eradicate the captain's dilemma. She'd still have to "terminate" one of them if they were to get Tuvok and Neelix back. How was all of this going to work out anyway? No matter what, someone was going to have to die.

=/\=

A bleary-eyed Tom, Harry, and B'Elanna stood at attention in front of Voyager's command team, or as close to attention as they could manage, given their disheveled state and degree of exhaustion.

"What is this amazing discovery you made last night. Or was it this morning?" Chakotay smiled only slightly at his weak quip. It was clear the three officers had just come from an All-Nighter.

"Captain, we request a stay of execution for Lieutenant Tuvix," Harry replied.

The captain sighed and rubbed her forehead. Shaking her head, she said, "Please. We've been through all this _ad nauseum_."

"Last night I remembered something I heard while I was at the Academy. The three of us, with the help of Tuvix, did a search in our database concerning an incident the _Enterprise_ reported a couple of years ago. We found the information, Captain, and it might make a difference. If we can duplicate Tuvix before you perform the Doctor's procedure, we could get Tuvok and Neelix back, and Tuvix would still be alive!"

" _Duplicate_ Tuvix?" the captain said, sitting straighter in her chair.

Quickly, the three of them described their findings. The captain's enthusiasm quickly waned, however, when she heard the specifics. "Where are you going to find this particular, very unique set of conditions to even attempt the process?"

Tom responded eagerly, "Actually, Captain, that's the best part. Once we found the report in the database, we asked Megan and Jenny Delaney to do a search for a planet with a distortion layer like the one described on Nervala. Amazingly, they found several! And one of them is only two days away at Warp 8. I know we'd use up a bit more power than usual to travel there, and it's a little out of our way, but how can we pass up the opportunity to at least try this?"

The captain and the commander exchanged a long look. After almost two years of working together, Tom thought they must have developed some invisible, sub-vocal methods of communication, because he was unable to detect any way for them both to say, simultaneously, "I agree." Unless there was a telepathic connection, of course, but that was Tuvok's bailiwick, and he wasn't here.

Chakotay asked, "You said the four of you worked on this? Where is Tuvix?"

"He's at the tactical station on the bridge. After yesterday, he didn't want to seem to be begging for his life again. I think he was a bit embarrassed about the way he acted. The Tuvok part of him couldn't control the Neelix half, you know what I mean?" Tom answered.

"Call him in, Chakotay. I'll give him his 'stay of execution' for three days: two to travel to this planet, and one to attempt to duplicate him. He's got to be completely duplicated, you understand. All of the DNA from both Tuvok _and_ Neelix have to be present, or we might lose one or both of them anyway during the Doctor's separation process."

The three officers breathed mutual sighs of relief and expressed their gratitude, briefly, by Lieutenant Torres, with sincerity, by Lieutenant Paris, and profusely, by Ensign Kim, as they backed out of the captain's ready room.

Chakotay followed them to the door, but before stepping out, he turned to the captain. "I know what a hardship waiting three days will be for you, but we do have to do this." He wasn't smiling. There was no hint of sarcasm in his tone of voice.

"I know, Chakotay. We have to attempt this, if only to let Lieutenant Tuvix know we really did try everything to save his life - if this doesn't work."

=/\=

When _Voyager_ was a half day's distance from the unnamed, apparently uninhabited planet, Ensigns Megan and Jenny Delaney came to the conference room to report to the senior officers additional statistics about the world. "Judging from the Federation database, planets with an extremely erratic orbit around their stars often develop distortion layers because of the extreme variations between the seasons at apogee and perigee," Megan said.

Her twin sister Jenny continued, "When these planets are close to the star, there are lots of energy surges, seismic activity, and really terrible weather."

"All of these conditions could affect transporter functioning," Megan observed.

Without missing a beat, Jenny said, "The other planets we found were much farther away, so our readings on them might not be accurate, but all our measurements of the distortion layer on this one indicate its phase differential is very close to the one on Nervala IV."

Megan picked up the thread, "We need to remember that although conditions on the two planets may look the same, if the crews of the _Valhalla_ , the _Potemkin_ , and _Enterprise_ all missed detecting one critical factor, this procedure may not work like it did for Lieutenant Riker."

"Lieutenant Rikers," interjected Jenny.

"It is okay to refer to both of them as 'Lieutenant Riker,' since the Riker from the _Enterprise_ didn't get promoted until later, right?" Megan asked, addressing Captain Janeway.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Tom couldn't totally suppress a grin. The Delaney twins had, to this point, alternated reporting their information so smoothly, it was as if they were one person. Of course, they had been one person at the zygote stage of development. Identical twins always were. 'Paris, stop your mental blathering and pay attention! You need to hear this,' his inner Tom insisted.

Tom started paying closer attention. The captain was saying, ". . . appreciate your efforts, Ensigns. Continue to take readings of the conditions on the planet. Let us know if you discover _anything_ which might affect our chances of success."

Tuvix, his hands steepled before him in a move very reminiscent of Tuvok at a senior staff meeting, asked, "If the readings are very different, will you still agree to make the attempt, Captain?"

"If I may," Harry interjected, "there's one thing Jenny and Megan noticed that we missed during our All-Nighter. When they reviewed the reports from the three ships which transported personnel down to or up from the surface, the phase differential wasn't exactly same every time a transport window opened up. According to the transporter logs, there was a variation of approximately two percent in the resonance readings between the attempts, with the weakest - and most problematic - recorded at the time the _Potemkin_ had trouble retrieving Commander Riker. When the station was established, the _Valhalla's_ chief didn't report any difficulty transporting the scientists and their equipment down to the planet. The strongest levels were reported by Chief Palmer of _Enterprise._ They didn't have any issues with their transports, either. That indicates we might have a little leeway in our settings."

"Lieutenant Torres? Do you think you can work within these variations?"

"Yes, Captain. We'll narrow the confinement beam and match the existing resonance in the distortion field. _Voyager's_ transporter systems are even more refined then _Enterprise's_ , let alone the _Potemkin's_. As long as the levels don't deviate too much while we're down on the planet, we've got a good shot at it."

"Assuming the conditions are safe enough for a shuttle to actually land down there," Commander Chakotay pointed out.

"Yes, there's that. Lieutenant Tuvix, you understand that I will not endanger the lives of my chief pilot or chief engineer if it isn't safe."

"I understand, Captain. I'll be on that shuttle, too. If it's too dangerous for it to land, it would be pointless to proceed. For three of us to die when our goal is to save my life would be illogical."

"As long as we can operate safely within the parameters of the mission, we'll try this, Mr. Tuvix. B'Elanna, have your shuttle repair team go over the _Sacajawea_ one more time. Reinforce its physical structure anywhere you even think there could be a weakness and fine tune the structural integrity system. We want all of you back in one piece! Are there any more questions?"

No one spoke. "All right then. Dismissed."

Everyone stood up to leave except for the captain, the commander, and Tuvix. When everyone else had exited the conference room, Tuvix finally rose and said, "Captain. Commander. I am truly grateful you have agreed to make this attempt. I hope very much we meet with success, because if there is one thing I would like to do before I exit this life, it is to meet my parents. Thank you for being willing to give me the opportunity to do so."

After he left, Chakotay and Kathryn remained in their chairs for over a minute before Chakotay addressed his captain. "If we are successful duplicating a second Tuvix, one of them still won't get that opportunity."

The captain responded only with a very deep, pained sigh.

=/\=

"We're down, Captain."

 _::: . . . conditions really bad there, Tom?:::_

"They're not great. Your communication signal is breaking up. Can you read me?"

 _:::. . . n't get all that. Say that a . . .:::_

Tom repeated his previous message.

 _::: . . . breaking up, too. We'll have to interpr . . . best we can.:::_

"Affirmative, Captain."

 _:::Got that okay.:::_

"Okay, then. Let's get started. Harry? This is the setting you need to use for the containment beam . . . "

The first time they attempted the duplication maneuver, Tuvix disappeared as _Voyager's_ transporter captured his signal. B'Elanna and Harry had agreed with the Delaney sisters' recommendation to wait for up to five minutes for a second Tuvix to reappear inside the _Sacajawea_. Seven minutes after transport was initiated, Harry contacted the shuttle. _:::Did you get him back, B'El . . . :::_

"No Harry. You did get him up there, didn't you?"

 _:::Affirmative. Let's try again, with . . . ly different setting. Try this :::_

They tried three more times. Three more times, Tuvix appeared on _Voyager_ , but there was no sign of him down on the shuttle.

"B'Elanna, we've got a nasty storm blowing up. There's a lot of lightning and energy surges. Do you think we should abort the mission? Admit defeat?"

"Lieutenant Riker reported energy surges on Nevala. He thought that might be why he didn't get back on the _Potemkin_. This storm may be the factor we need that we've been missing. Let's ask the captain to send Tuvix down to try one more time. Unless you think we'd be in real trouble if we didn't leave now?"

Tom examined his instruments briefly. "It's coming, but it's not here yet. There's a lot of wind shear, but as long as we can actually get Tuvix back down here with all this going on, yeah. I say one more time, too. I hope the captain agrees."

=/\=

In _Voyager's_ transporter room, the captain and the commander huddled by the doorway while Harry waited with Tuvix near the platform. All Harry could think of was that every second their superior officers debated, the weather was deteriorating even more down on "Distortion Layer Planet II," which was the only name they had given it so far.

Finally, Captain Janeway turned to Tuvix and Harry. "Okay. One more try. If it doesn't work this time, Tuvix, I'm sorry, but I won't risk leaving Tom and B'Elanna down on that planet's surface any longer with the weather conditions as they are."

Tuvix nodded his head slowly. "I understand. The sooner we try this again then, the better." He climbed onto the platform. Harry stepped up to the transporter console and adjusted the settings for the narrowest containment beam and the strongest signal level possible before activating the transporter.

When there was no response from the shuttle by the twenty second mark, apart from a brief burst of static, the Captain signaled the shuttle, "We sent Lieutenant Tuvix down to you for one more try. Did you get him?"

The communication link sputtered for a few seconds before Tom's voice came through. _:::We signaled you he was here . . . we were ready . . . . receive our message?"_

Harry sighed in relief. "We're ready here. Initializing."

With a great deal of caution, Harry activated the controls to transport Tuvix up to the ship one more time. Although it couldn't have been more than a minute before Tuvix's image coalesced on the transporter platform, he gave a sign of relief when he could announce, "We got him, Captain. And according to this, he's all here."

Slowly, the blended being stepped down from the platform. There was no point staying up there. They'd already agreed this was the last time they'd attempt to duplicate him.

At the four minute, twenty-seven minute mark, Harry reported, " _Sacajawea_ has opened the communications channel, Captain."

As Harry initiated audio, a sputtering of static, whoops of joy and laughter issued forth from the speakers. _:::We got him, Cap . . . . ease tell us he's up there with you too!"_

"He is, Tom! We have Tuvix here. Or should I say, we have _another_ Tuvix here!"

The captain turned to the Talaxian/Vulcan lieutenant and joyfully grabbed him by the arms. Tuvix reached out to give his commanding officer a warm, Neelix kind of hug in return.

"And now you'd better get back up here, Mr. Paris," Chakotay ordered, grinning. "The weather down there isn't getting much better, is it?"

 _:::We're coming, Comm . . . .We're_ all _coming.:::_

=/\=

Tuvix, Harry Kim, and Captain Janeway were standing together, just inside the shuttle bay doors, as the _Sacajawea_ sailed inside _Voyager_. The shuttle's door opened. B'Elanna jumped out, followed closely by Lieutenant Tuvix. The other Lieutenant Tuvix.

Slowly, the newly-made twins paced the short distance between them. As soon as they got within "hugging range," they clasped their arms around each other. Their laughter rang out and echoed from the walls of the shuttle bay.

By the time Tom had finished his post-flight check and exited the shuttle, only Harry was standing there waiting for him.

"That was quite a reunion, from what I could see through the shuttle's window. More Neelix-like than Tuvokian, I thought. What about you?"

"Yeah," Harry replied. "Much more a Neelix kind of greeting." He looked down at the toes of his boots. His demeanor was as far from the Tuvix twins' greeting of each other as one could get. "They called each other 'brother,' Tom."

"Male identical twins are always brothers, Harry. I'm not surprised they're calling each other that. I mean, right now they're both called 'Lieutenant Tuvix.' That's the way it will stay, I guess, unless they pull a Riker and pick other names."

"That's not it, Tom."

Tom nodded his head slowly, twisting his lower lip as he often did when he was about to give advice to his close, but somewhat naïve, friend. "You've finally figured out the downside of this duplication project, haven't you?"

"Yeah. I have. It stinks, doesn't it?"

Sighing, Tom said, "That's the way life is sometimes."

=/\=

A very perky EMH informed the captain, "They're both Tuvix, Captain. The mixture of DNA and molecules is identical in both. They have all the characteristics of both the men they were comprised of. Apparently I was wrong when I said we could not get our crew mates back without sacrificing Mr. Tuvix. Bravo, Captain! You've solved our little problem. Tuvix can remain on _Voyager_ as a permanent member of our crew."

Captain Janeway replied solemnly, "I've solved one problem, but that doesn't mean my dilemma is over, Doctor. It's still the same as it was before we succeeded duplicating Tuvix. Now I have to determine which one is to survive, and which I will have to 'execute' so that Tuvok and Neelix will live again as themselves."

The Doctor, who was seldom speechless, wordlessly stared at her. Kes broke the silence. "How will you decide which one must be sacrificed, Captain?"

"She will not have to decide," the Tuvix from the shuttle informed them. "We will do it ourselves. On our trip back to the ship, I asked Lieutenant Paris how humans make difficult decisions without resorting to a third party's decree. He described several ways the people of Earth have solved a problem like ours. Some roll cubes called dice, or shuffle and cut packs of paper cards. The one rolling the highest number on the dice or draws the card with the highest value 'wins.' He also told me several forms of choosing by 'lot.' In this method, people draw straws of uneven lengths or pick a paper out of a hat."

"All are ingenious methods," the other Tuvix agreed. "I recall there are others, but only one need be utilized. We can discuss this in our quarters. Will you give us an hour to choose one, Captain?"

"Of course. We will meet in my ready room one hour from now."

=/\=

"We decided to 'draw straws,' Captain. We replicated a long piece of hay and broke it into unequal portions. Would you arrange them in your hands and hold them in such a way that we cannot see which is which?"

The captain turned away from the pair. When she turned back, the straws in her right hand looked to be identical.

The Tuvix who materialized on the _Sacajawea_ announced, "In our quarters, we agreed that I should choose first."

The room was completely silent as he removed a straw from the captain's hand. It came out easily. It was the short piece. "Ah. In this method, apparently you do not even need to choose your straw, Tuvix. It is already clear I am the one who is to die."

The being who materialized on _Voyager_ gravely took the long straw from Captain Janeway's hand. "I will always keep this as a remembrance of you, Tuvix."

"I don't believe it is appropriate to call me that anymore. You are the only Tuvix from now on. Captain, when he came to be, Tuvix considered taking the name Neevok. For the short time I remain alive, I believe I should be Neevok. That is the name which should appear in your records about this incident."

"If you wish it, it will be so." The captain's voice wavered, which it so seldom did. The muscles of Commander Chakotay's face were tight, as if he held his composure only by refusing to show any expression at all. The one who would now be known as Tuvix cast his eyes down. Yes, he would live on, but the memory of this moment would remain indelibly stamped in his brain for as long as that life would last.

Neevok patted the arm of his twin. "Don't be so sad, Tuvix. We agreed to be duplicated because we wanted Tuvix to live on but desired for our 'fathers' to live, too. You know, Captain and Commander, we decided how to make this decision very quickly. We spent the rest of the hour in our quarters sharing our memories. We have been separate individuals for only a few hours. Except for my time on the shuttle with Lieutenants Paris and Torres, he shares my memories since Tuvix was 'born,' just as we share all of our fathers' memories. In a way, we are still one person. I will not completely disappear. That is a comfort."

"I wish you didn't have to die, Neevok," Tuvix said mournfully.

"I do not wish for that any more now than I did a few days ago, but as soon as Tom, Harry, and B'Elanna discovered the duplication process, I knew what would happen. With my death I am upholding a basic tenet of Starfleet: 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or of the one.' In this case, the 'many' are my two fathers, Tuvok and Neelix. I am the one. When Tuvix agreed to be duplicated, he accepted that one of us would have to sacrifice his life for their sake. I'm the one who drew the short straw. I accept my fate. This is how it must be."

Neevok put his arm around his twin. "In some ways, your path may be harder than mine. You will have the privilege of actually meeting our fathers, but you must also find a way to act the way they want their son to act. Their ideas about what that right way is, I am certain, will often differ. It will be a tightrope you walk, Tuvix. In that way I do not envy you."

Tuvix replied, "And I will also have to live with the embarrassing way I acted on the bridge after the Doctor announced he could bring Neelix and Tuvok back, but only if I gave up my life. I apologize, Captain, Commander. I will try to exercise better emotional control in the future."

"If you hadn't been so upset, I wouldn't have given you that 'stay' which allowed Tom, Harry, and B'Elanna to find a way for you to live. Your apology is accepted. I'm glad you'll still be here, but Neevok is right. It won't always be easy."

They were saved from extending an already uncomfortable conversation by Tom's arrival at the ready room. "B'Elanna and Harry say everything is at the ready, Captain. Anytime."

"Well, there's no point in waiting any longer. We'd only create more memories we will not share. Captain, I'm ready to go."

"Tuvix, I'd like you to go to Sickbay. Stay with the Doctor. We'll come to you after it's all over. I believe it will be the best place for you to meet your . . . fathers."

"Captain, please allow me to accompany Neevok to the transporter room. I want to say our final good-byes at the very last minute. Then I will go to Sickbay, as you've asked."

Captain Janeway agreed to the request. It was a reasonable one. A logical one, actually. She just hoped the emotional, Neelix part of them wouldn't emerge when they reached that final moment together. She didn't think she could bear another scene like the one on the bridge - was it really only four days ago?

=/\=

When the small party arrived at the transporter room, the captain dismissed Hogan, who was manning the console during the current shift. Chakotay entered the room but remained at the door. He had volunteered to walk with Tuvix to Sickbay, before Tom injected the radioactive tracer into Neevok. The tracer would attach to one species' DNA, but not connect to the other's. In this way, the transporter would be able to differentiate between the Vulcan genes and the Talaxian ones and permit the separation to take place. The Doctor had determined that the remaining plant-based genes probably would split between Tuvok and Neelix. Since there were only a few, none promised to cause any trouble to either.

"Good-bye, my brother. Give our fathers my humblest regards. Tell them that though I'll never meet them, I love and honor them." Neevok embraced Tuvix, who buried his face in his brother's shoulder. Tom could not see if either of them were tearing up at this farewell. He wasn't seeing so clearly because of his own filled eyes. Although he didn't know if the commander was shedding any tears, he was sure the captain was. He heard one quiet sob emanate from her position by the transporter console.

When Neevok finally parted from his twin, Chakotay gently took Tuvix by the arm and guided him out of the room to journey to Sickbay, as he'd agreed.

"Before you . . . go . . . I wanted you to know that this system will be registered with the name of Neevok, and the third planet will be known as Neevok's Planet. You will be remembered."

Neevok smiled sweetly. "Thank you for that gift, Captain. It is very good to know." Turning to Tom, he bent his neck to give the field medic access for the injection of the radioactive tracer. Once that was done, Tom took Neevok by the hand and helped him climb up to the platform.

"I didn't need the help, Tom, but thank you."

"Maybe I'm the one who needed it, Neevok. Even if it was for only a few hours, I'll never forget you."

Stepping away from the transporter pad, Tom heard the captain say, "Energizing."

And then, Neevok was gone.

=/\=

"Fathers, I greet you." Tuvix raised his right hand, with his fingers split in the manner of a Vulcan salute. "I will need to choose specific names for both of you. Calling you Father Neelix and you Father Tuvok will become awkward over time. Permit me to use those terms as a temporary measure, until we have decided upon more precise designations. I regret my presence is a surprise to you. Unfortunately, there was no way to ask your permission to allow me to exist beforehand. I trust I will be a credit to both of you, in my own way, of course."

"How is this possible?" Neelix could barely contain his agitation.

"It's a long story," Kes said as she opened her arms to embrace her lover. "'We'll tell you all about it. It may take a few days to share everything with you. It's quite a story." Turning to her mentor Tuvok, she continued, "I would hug you, too, Tuvok, if it were culturally permissible. Since it isn't, let me simply say how very glad I am to see you again as you."

"Kes is correct," the captain agreed softly. "It's quite a story."

Tuvok lifted his eyebrow. Approaching Tuvix, he examined his ears, his spots, his skin tone, and his unique hairstyle and clothing. "It appears you share many traits of both Mr. Neelix and myself. Is this the reason you refer to us as your fathers?"

"That flower you brought up from the planet? It had symbiogenic properties. Tuvix's DNA is a merging of yours and Neelix's. He has a complete set of both your memories, too." The Doctor puffed up with pride, as if he had had something to do with the miraculous conception. He seemed to have forgotten he was almost successful in totally eradicating that blend of qualities, or that he _was_ instrumental in destroying one being who shared those unique traits.

"Oh, my," Neelix muttered. " _ALL_ my memories?"

A little sadly, Tuvix nodded agreement. "All of them."

"And mine as well?" Tuvok asked.

"Yes, Father Tuvok. However, that does not mean I have the ability to exercise all you have learned about the control of emotions. I will continue to need your assistance in maintaining my objectivity and control. You are well trained in those techniques. Since I share Father Neelix's emotional tendencies, I will need to work very diligently to achieve a degree of balance in my life. I look forward to a long and fruitful association with both of my parents."

Tuvix smiled warmly at Neelix. When he turned to Tuvok, the warmth in his eyes remained, although the smile on his lips smoothed away to a more solemn, Vulcan-like expression.

Lieutenant Tuvok looked at Neelix. Neelix gazed back at Tuvok. "At least you have some experience in parenting, Mr. Vulcan. You'll have to give me the benefit of your advice. Many times, I fear."

"I will provide as much guidance as I can, Mr. Neelix. While I may have three sons and a daughter, they are purely Vulcan. I assure you this will be a new experience for me as well." Turning to their surprising mutual offspring, Tuvok raised his hand, finally returning the Vulcan salute of his son. "Live long and prosper," Tuvok said.

Neelix arranged his own hand in the approximation of the salute; he'd yet to master it completely. "Live long and prosper," Neelix repeated.

Once Tuvix repeated the prescribed response of "Prosper and live long" to his fathers, the Doctor and Kes beamed at the newly-constituted family.

Kathryn backed away quietly, to avoid disturbing the mood this unorthodox family had established. At the entrance to Sickbay, she met Chakotay, who'd lingered by the door during the first meeting between fathers and son. They said nothing to each other until they entered the turbolift from the corridor, when he asked, "Are you all right, Captain?"

She sighed heavily. "I'm sure I will be eventually. Even though he went willingly, with his twin living on, I will have to live with the fact I killed a person whose only crime was that he displaced two other people when he was created. Even if it was only for a couple of hours, Neevok was a member of our crew. We may have salvaged two crew members and added Tuvix to our roster today, but it doesn't make it any easier to lose another."

"No, but that's what captains do, Kathryn. You know that. A captain makes the tough decisions, just as Neevok said, because 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or of the one.' And if it's any consolation, I share your burden. I know what that's like."

When the turbolift reached the bridge, Kathryn held the door for a few moments. She patted him on the arm and said, "Thank you for being there."

"Always," he replied.

=/\=

End

=/\=

 _After this episode first aired, Janeway haters flooded the internet with screams of, "Janeway murdered Tuvix! Court martial her!" Well, yeah, she killed him. In a way, he'd committed a form of manslaughter, because if he'd remained alive, Tuvok and Neelix would stay dead. "Tuvix" was one of the best episodes of_ Star Trek: Voyager _because it confronted the conundrum and didn't shy away from a basic fact: Someone would end up permanently dead. Who was it going to be?_

 _Truthfully, even though the duplication of Tuvix in this story meant he could remain as a member of the crew, it didn't change the fact that someone STILL had to die so the others could live._

 _It ain't easy being the captain, you know, and both Chakotay and Kathryn know that well. They've both been there._

 _I'm certain there are several stories out in Voyager Fanfic Nation about this topic. I wouldn't be shocked if a couple feature a Neevok or a Neelok as well as a Tuvix. This is my take, prompted by a passage from another story I'd been working on. Although I'd really like to finish that other fanfic, this idea grabbed me by the throat and made me write it down._

 _All the regular actors were wonderful on Voyager, but I must say I marveled at Tom Wright's portrayal of Tuvix from the very first time I saw it, when "Tuvix" aired on UPN on 5/6/96. It's hard to believe it's so long ago. I'm still a big fan of Voyager. This episode was one of my favorites from all of Trek._

 _Paramount, owner of all things Star Trek, I bow before you and beg forgiveness for rewriting this episode so Tuvix could live. Having a "Pa" and a "Dad" like Tuvok and Neelix wouldn't have been easy, though. Maybe Neevok really would have been the lucky one._

=/\=


End file.
